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Revealed: Syrian training base of the Iraqi guerilla squads

AUTOMATIC gunfire crackled above the rooftops of Falluja, a town with a burgeoning reputation as a battleground for Islamic militants and American troubleshooters, as I drove through its fetid streets to the bolthole of some of the US Army’s most dangerous enemies.

Hundreds of foreign fighters have entered Iraq in recent months to pursue “jihad”, or holy war, against the Americans. Last week, in a disused Falluja garage barred by heavy metal gates, the first such fighters to speak to a western reporter revealed the explosive secret of their training.

Three young militants from a previously unknown group called Martyrs of Islam said they had learnt to make bombs, set booby traps and fire weapons ranging from an AK-47 assault rifle to a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at a camp in Syria.

The three — two Syrians and a Yemeni who described Osama Bin Laden as their biggest influence — said the desert